Strange friend, past, present, and to be;
Loved deeplier, darklier, understood;
Behold, I dream a dream of good,
And mingle all the world with thee. - Tennyson

Friday, June 16, 2006

Final Recap

The week has given me time to reflect on the weekend. After getting out of the water Sunday with a nasty cramp/knot in my left calf, I haven't been able to work it out, so I made sure to schedule a massage appointment for Thursday. I was hoping to get it worked out, but the only thing he worked out were tears. Friggin ay that SOB HURT!! It is a little better, but I got chastised for being and athlete and I stretch more and bla bla bla.. It is feeling a little better, but I still have a long way to go.

With that, I think I'm finally starting to come out of my training funk. After finishing up my classes in early May, I really had no direction and didn't know what to do. I enjoyed eating ice cream, watching TV, sleeping in, being lazy.. hell, having a life that didn't revolve around time/distance, cadence, laps, reps/sets, or weight. But now it's time to get back to it. For real. I have Montreal at the end of July and a slew of other possible races in August with an Iron-distance race at the end of September. I also have to get back to training towards my New Years Resolution, which is to do 2 full pull-ups (palms in) by the end of September. I haven't forgotten about that.. it only seems like it.

Interesting story from Pride weekend. Before leaving the first bar, I was standing in line to use the restroom. I was just inside the door next to the papertowel dispenser (people actually wash their hands!) waiting my turn.

Chick gets some towels and says to me, "I just wanted to say you have nice features."I'm a bit taken back and say, "Which ones?"She replies, "All of them."

I think I might've mumbled 'thank you', but I was so shit faced I have no clue. All I know is that 1.) I've never been 'propositioned' in the bathroom before and 2.) god help me that it had to be an ugly chick. My luck... or lack thereof. And then I go to say 'good bye' to my ex, I tell her the story, and apparently that chick told the story to her. I'm sure she didn't realize it was me she was referring to.. hopefully she asked, "was she hot?" only to find out later it was me. I don't know what her answer would've been and I don't really care.

Another thing from this weekend.. It's actually an accumulation of events from April or so, but I've decided to give up booze for a bit. I think of how much I've had over the past couple of months, how shit faced I've gotten in the process, and how much money I've spent. I have to admit, I love drinking beer. I love alcohol. I love both. I love binge drinking. I like to drink to get drunk when I go out. I've just been doing too much of it. I love the courage it gives me when I go out. I especially love to drink at work functions because it's free. We have a happy hour every month and I sooo look forward to it. My department hosted the Cinco de Mayo part and I got hammered. I had 5 bottles of Dos Equis in no time. There were 10 small plastic cups of sangria lined up that they didn't want to waste when clean up began. All five people looked at me and I started pounding them. I finished off 5 of them including the orange and apples slices in the glass. I then took 4 beers home with me. I had another happy hour to go to that night and stayed out until 2am. I did an open water swim the next morning. Sounds a little too similar to the events from this past weekend.

I actually skipped my departments 'picnic' last Thursday and the tri club happy hour this Thursday. You know you drink too much when the party planners ask ME what kind of beer I want before they go out shopping. My boss didn't realize I was going and I told her, flat out, if I went to the party, I would get hammered. I was still recovering from my weekend in Atlantic City, too. Who knew I'd get so bombed at Pride. ya, well, okay.. I kinda had an idea..

So I'm hoping I can hold off drinking until Montreal. There are a lot of opportunities to drink between now and then - another club happy hour, a couple work happy hours, I have 2 beers in the fridge at home, there's beer in the fridge at work.. I'm gonna be around it, but will do my best to avoid it when the opportunity to drink arises. I'm not gonna chastise those around me that want to drink.. that's fine.. and I'd love to join you, but my liver, my waistline, and my wallet need a break. I'm not going to start carrying around a wooden nickel or whatever that says how long I've been sober and I'm not gonna get all preachy.. I'm just taking a break. I need a break..